JP2011086104A - Printing controller, printer, and printer driver program - Google Patents

Abstract

[PROBLEMS] To reduce the printing cost in N-up printing of original image data in which color pages and black and white pages are mixed, and maintain readability of the original by maintaining the page order of the original.
A print data generation unit divides a plurality of logical pages constituting original image data into N pages in order of pages, and arranges the divided logical pages for each N pages on one physical page. Print data is generated, and the logical page of interest that is the logical page with the smallest page number among the logical pages before the aggregated arrangement is a black and white page, and the first half N page and the second half in the range of 2N pages from the logical page of interest If each N page includes a color page and the difference between the page numbers of the last color page and the first color page in the range of 2N pages is smaller than N, the page immediately before the first color page from the logical page of interest A physical page in which only logical pages are arranged on one page is configured.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a printing apparatus, and a printer driver program having an N-up printing function for collecting and printing a plurality of pages of a document on one page.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus having a so-called N-up printing function in which N (N = 2, 3,...) Logical pages on one physical page are reduced, aggregated, and printed is known (for example, , See Patent Document 1). Here, the logical data is a page in the original image data to be printed, and the physical page is a page divided in correspondence with a page of a print medium such as paper.

  Since the N-up printing function can reduce the number of sheets used for printing, it is actively used especially in an office environment. For example, in 4-up printing, as shown in FIG. 6, four logical pages are reduced and collectively arranged on one physical page. As a result, only one sheet is used to print a four-page document.

  By the way, when performing N-up printing, if at least one color page is included in N logical pages arranged on one physical page, the physical page is color-printed. Since color printing costs higher than monochrome printing, when color logical pages and monochrome logical pages are mixed in the original image data to be printed, depending on the arrangement order, there are more physical pages for color printing. The printing cost may be high.

  In view of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 proposes a technique for reducing the physical cost for color printing and controlling the printing cost by manipulating the arrangement of logical pages in N-up printing.

  Patent Document 2 discloses two techniques. The first technique is to detect a portion where logical pages with the same color attribute (monochrome or color) continue in the original image data, and insert a blank page where the continuity is interrupted. It is composed only of monochrome logical pages or only color logical pages.

  The second technique of Patent Document 2 allows the logical page to be transposed by changing the page order, and is placed on the physical page where the blank page was inserted by the first technique. A logical page having the same color attribute as that of other logical pages is transposed from the rear in the page order. As a result, compared with the first technique, logical costs having the same color attribute are more consolidated, thereby reducing the printing cost.

JP-A-8-2057 JP 2006-159845 A

  The technique of Patent Document 2 has advantages and disadvantages, although a certain effect can be obtained. This will be described below using a specific example. In the following description, a technique for performing basic N-up printing as disclosed in Patent Document 1 is shown as Conventional Example 1, and the first and second techniques of Patent Document 2 described above are shown as conventional examples. Call it 2,3.

  FIG. 7A is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of logical pages in document image data. In FIG. 7A, the document image data is composed of nine logical pages, the second, third and fifth pages are color pages, and the other pages are black and white pages.

  In the original image data shown in FIG. 7A, when 4-up printing is performed in Conventional Example 1, logical pages are divided into four pages in order of pages and are collectively arranged on a physical page, as shown in FIG. 7B. Three physical pages are configured. Here, an example of an arrangement order in which logical pages are arranged on a physical page from the upper left to the side in page order is shown.

  When 4-up printing is performed in the conventional examples 2 and 3, physical pages are configured as shown in FIGS. 7C and 7D, respectively, by the processing described above.

  If the printing cost per physical page is 10 yen for color printing and 2 yen for monochrome printing, the total printing cost is 22 yen for Conventional Example 1, 26 yen for Conventional Example 2, and 14 yen for Conventional Example 3 It becomes.

  As described above, Conventional Example 2 is more expensive than Conventional Example 1 that performs basic 4-up printing. Conventional example 2 can be said to be disadvantageous in the case of document image data with few continuous logical pages having the same color attribute as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, in the conventional example 3, the printing cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional example 1. However, since the page order is broken, it is difficult for the user to read and there is a possibility that dissatisfaction may occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and reduces the printing cost in N-up printing of original image data in which color pages and black and white pages are mixed, while maintaining the page order of the original and improving the readability of the user. An object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus, a printing apparatus, and a printer driver program that can be secured.

  In order to achieve the above object, a printing control apparatus according to the present invention is a printing control apparatus that outputs printing data to a printing apparatus to perform printing, and N (N = 2, 3,...) Pages of document image data. Print condition setting means for performing N-up print settings for collecting and printing a plurality of images in one page according to a user operation, and a plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data are set in page order by the print condition setting means. A print data generation unit that generates a print data by concatenating the divided logical pages for every N pages, and arranging the logical pages for each divided N page on one physical page corresponding to a page of the print medium, and generating the print data Communication processing means for outputting the print data generated by the means to the printing apparatus, wherein the print data generation means is a page of logical pages before being collectively arranged on a physical page. The target logical page having the smallest logical page is a black and white page, and the first half N page and the second half N page in the range of 2N pages from the target logical page each include at least one color page. When the difference between the page numbers of the last color page and the first color page in the range of 2N pages is smaller than N, only one page from the target logical page to the logical page immediately before the first color page A physical page arranged above is configured.

  The printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing condition setting unit configured to perform N-up printing settings for collecting and printing N (N = 2, 3,...) Page images of document image data on one page according to a user operation. A plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data are divided in page order into N pages set by the printing condition setting means, and each of the divided logical pages for each N page is a physical page corresponding to a page of the print medium. Print data generating means for generating print data in a centralized arrangement on a page; and printing means for printing on a print medium based on the print data generated by the print data generating means, the print data generating means The attention logical page having the smallest page number among the logical pages before being collectively arranged on the physical page is a monochrome page, and the attention logical page Each of the first N pages and the second N pages in the 2N page range includes at least one color page, and the difference in page number between the last color page and the first color page in the 2N page range is as follows. If it is smaller than N, a physical page in which only the logical page immediately before the first color page from the logical page of interest is arranged on one page is configured.

  A printer driver program of the present invention is a printer driver program that causes an information processing apparatus to function as a print control apparatus that outputs print data to a printing apparatus and performs printing, and N (N = 2, 3, 3) of document image data. ...) Print condition setting means for performing N-up print setting for collecting and printing page images in one page according to a user operation, and a plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data in the page order, the print condition setting. The information is used as print data generation means for generating print data by dividing every N pages set by the means and consolidating the logical pages for each divided N page on one physical page corresponding to the page of the print medium. The print data generating means causes the processing device to function, and the print data generating means has the page number of the logical page before being laid out on the physical page. The logical page of interest is a monochrome page, and at least one color page is included in each of the first N pages and the second N pages in the range of 2N pages from the logical page of interest, and the 2N pages When the difference in page number between the last color page and the first color page in the minute range is smaller than N, only the pages from the logical page of interest to the logical page immediately before the first color page are arranged on one page. It constitutes a physical page.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to maintain readability of the user by maintaining the page order of the document while reducing the printing cost in N-up printing of document image data in which color pages and monochrome pages are mixed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system including a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print condition setting screen. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the printing control apparatus at the time of performing N up printing. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process which detects the pattern which can reduce printing cost. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the physical page in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the collective arrangement | positioning in N up printing. (A) is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of logical pages in document image data, (b) is a diagram showing a physical page constituted by Conventional Example 1, and (c) is a physical page constituted by Conventional Example 2. FIG. 4D is a diagram showing a physical page configured according to Conventional Example 3.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system including a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The connection form between the printing control apparatus 1 and the printing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 1 can be typically a LAN (Local Area Network) connection in which a plurality of printing control apparatuses 1 share the printing apparatus 2. A local connection in which the print control apparatus 1 and the printing apparatus 2 are connected one-to-one may be used.

  In addition to a printer function for performing printing based on the print data sent from the print control apparatus 1, the printing apparatus 2 has a copy function for reading a document image and performing copy printing.

  The print control apparatus 1 includes an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC), and a printer driver program developed for the printing apparatus 2 is installed. The printer driver unit 10 is formed by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) executing this printer driver program. The printer driver unit 10 includes a print condition setting unit 11 and a print data generation unit 12.

  The printing condition setting unit 11 sets various setting items for printing conditions when printing is performed using a printer function in accordance with a user operation. For example, the print condition setting unit 11 sets whether to perform N-up printing and sets various setting items in N-up printing.

  The print data generation unit 12 generates print data based on the original image data to be printed created by an application program (not shown) and the setting contents of various setting items set by the print condition setting unit 11. When N-up printing is set, the print data generation unit 12 divides a plurality of logical pages in the document image data to be printed in the order of pages in a range of 1 to N pages and divides them into 1 to N pages. Print data is generated in which each logical page is aggregated and arranged on one physical page.

  The print control apparatus 1 includes a liquid crystal display and the like, and includes a display unit 13 that displays various screens and the like, a keyboard and a mouse, and the like, and an operation input unit 14 that receives a user operation and the printing apparatus 2. A communication processing unit 15.

  The printing apparatus 2 includes a control unit 20 including a CPU, a memory, and the like, and the CPU performs processing according to a program stored in the memory, thereby performing a print condition setting unit 21, a print data generation unit 22, a print A control unit 23 is formed.

  The printing condition setting unit 21 sets various setting items of printing conditions when printing is performed by the copy function of the printing apparatus 2 according to a user operation. For example, the print condition setting unit 21 sets whether to perform N-up printing with the copy function, and sets various setting items in N-up printing.

  The print data generation unit 22 generates print data based on the original image data to be printed read by the image reading unit 24 described later and the setting contents of various setting items set by the print condition setting unit 21. When N-up printing is set with the copy function, the print data generation unit 22 performs logical processing for each of the 1st to Nth pages on one physical page by the same processing as the print data generation unit 12 described above. Generate print data arranged in a centralized manner.

  The print control unit 23 performs print control of the print unit 25 described later.

  The printing apparatus 2 includes a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor, and includes an image reading unit 24 that optically reads a document, a printing unit 25 that has a printing mechanism such as an ink jet method, and performs printing on paper. , An operation input unit 26 that receives a user operation, and a communication processing unit 27 for connecting to the print control apparatus 1. The printing unit 25 is configured to be capable of color printing.

  The operation input unit 26 has various operation keys (not shown) and a touch panel (not shown) having both a function as a display unit and a function as an input unit, accepts user operations, and performs user operations. The operation signal based on this is output to the control unit 20. The user can perform an input operation by directly touching the surface of the touch panel with a finger or the like.

  Next, the operation of the printing system in the present embodiment will be described.

  When printing by the printer function, the user sets various setting items such as the paper size, the number of copies, and the layout on the print condition setting screen displayed on the display unit 13 by the printer driver unit 10 in the print control apparatus 1. be able to.

  An example of the print condition setting screen is shown in FIG. On this print condition setting screen 30, an N-up printing instruction, the number of pages that are the number of logical pages arranged on one physical page in N-up printing, and the arrangement order of logical pages on the physical page can be set. It is like that.

  When executing printing by the printer function, the printing condition setting unit 11 receives input of various setting items by the operation of the operation input unit 14 by the user, and sets various setting items according to the input contents. When an instruction to perform N-up printing is given, the printing condition setting unit 11 sets various setting items as described above in N-up printing.

  The operation of the print control apparatus 1 when performing N-up printing will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, it is assumed that the set number of faces is N. In addition, the printing cost for one sheet in color printing is higher than the printing cost for two sheets in monochrome printing.

  In step S <b> 10, the print data generation unit 12 sets (initializes) a variable P that manages the page of the original image data to be printed. Setting P = 1 means setting the first logical page in the document image data.

  Next, in step S <b> 20, the print data generation unit 12 determines whether the logical page of the Pth page that is the target logical page in the document image data is a monochrome page or a color page. If it is a monochrome page (step S20: YES), the process proceeds to step S30, and if it is not a monochrome page, that is, a color page (step S20: NO), the process proceeds to step S40.

  In step S <b> 30, the print data generation unit 12 searches a range of 2N pages from the Pth page to the P + 2N−1 page, and performs a process of detecting a pattern that can reduce the printing cost. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S60. The process of step S30 will be described later.

  In step S <b> 40, the print data generation unit 12 performs an orderly N-up process for generating print data by consolidating and arranging logical pages of N pages from the Pth page to the P + N−1 page on one physical page. The print data is output to the printing apparatus 2 via the communication processing unit 15.

  If the current page P, which is the logical page of interest, is a color page (step S20: NO), the N pages from the P page are always included in the color page, so that the appropriate N-up processing is performed rather than performing proper N-up processing. There is no possibility of reducing the printing cost. Therefore, as described above, a proper N-up process is performed in step S40.

  Next, in step S50, the print data generation unit 12 increments P by N. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S60.

  In step S60, it is determined whether P exceeds the last page of the document image data. If the last page has been exceeded (step S60: YES), the series of processes is terminated. If the last page has not been exceeded (step S60: NO), the process returns to step S20 and the subsequent processes are repeated.

  Details of the processing in step S30 of FIG. 3 described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the Pth page, which is the current logical page of interest, is a black and white page (step S20 in FIG. 3: YES), the printing cost can be reduced compared to the proper N-up processing as in step S40 in FIG. Because there is a possibility, the pattern is detected.

  First, in step S110, the print data generation unit 12 determines whether each logical page is a color page or a monochrome page in a range (search target range) of 2N pages from the Pth page to the P + 2N−1 page of the document image data. The first color page that appears in the search target range is detected, and the page number in the document image data for that page is set to S. If no color page exists, S = 0.

  Next, in step S120, the print data generation unit 12 detects the color page that appears last in the search target range, and sets the page number to E. If no color page exists, E = 0. That is, if there is no color page, S = E = 0.

  Next, in step S <b> 130, the print data generation unit 12 calculates a color page existence range A = ES in the search target range.

  Next, in step S140, the print data generation unit 12 determines whether or not a condition of S = E = 0 or S ≧ P + N (referred to as condition C1) is satisfied. As described above, S = E = 0 indicates that there is no color page in the search target range, that is, all black and white pages. S ≧ P + N indicates that the first N pages in the search target range are all black and white pages. The latter half N pages include at least one color page.

  Therefore, if the condition C1 is satisfied (step S140: YES), the first half N pages in the search target range are all black and white pages, and there is no possibility that the printing cost can be reduced as compared with the N-up processing in order. The print data generation unit 12 performs the same process as in step S40 in FIG. Thereafter, in step S160, the print data generation unit 12 increments P by N.

  When the condition C1 is not satisfied (step S140: NO), in step S170, the print data generation unit 12 determines whether or not the condition of E <P + N or A ≧ N (referred to as the condition C2) is satisfied. E <P + N indicates that at least one color page is included in the first N pages in the search target range, and that the second N pages are all black and white pages, and A ≧ N indicates the first N pages in the search target range. This indicates that at least one color page is included in each of the N pages in the latter half and that it is impossible to aggregate all the color pages included in the search target range into one physical page.

  Accordingly, when the condition C2 is satisfied (step S170: YES), the printing cost of the first half N pages is not likely to be reduced as compared with the N-up processing properly, and the process proceeds to step S150.

  A case where conditions C1 and C2 are not satisfied (step S170: NO) will be described. In this case, S ≠ 0, E ≠ 0, S <P + N, E ≧ P + N, and A <N are satisfied.

  Here, S ≠ 0 and E ≠ 0 indicate that a color page exists in the search target range. S <P + N indicates that at least one color page is included in the first half N pages in the search target range, and E ≧ P + N indicates at least one page color in the second half N pages in the search target range. Indicates that the page is included. Since S <P + N and E ≧ P + N, A is not 0, so 0 <A <N.

  Accordingly, when the conditions C1 and C2 are not satisfied, the first N pages and the second N pages in the search target range each include at least one color page, and the last color page and the first color in the search target range. A case where A = ES, which is a difference in page number from the page, is smaller than N is shown.

  In this case, if the N-up process is performed for the range of the 2N pages from the P page to the P + 2N−1 page, which is the search target range, the physical page in which the first N pages are aggregated and the physical in which the latter N pages are aggregated Both pages contain color pages.

  However, since A <N, the color pages in the search target range are all included in the range of N pages from the Sth page to the S + N−1th page of the document image page. All pages can be consolidated into one physical page, thereby reducing printing costs.

  Therefore, when the conditions C1 and C2 are not satisfied (step S170: NO), in step S180, the print data generation unit 12 sets the monochrome logical pages for the S pages from the Pth page to the (S-1) th page as one page. Print data arranged and arranged on a physical page is generated, and the print data is output to the printing apparatus 2 via the communication processing unit 15. Here, since the number of pages from the P-th page to the (S-1) -th page is less than N, the missing pages are assumed to be blank pages.

  In step S190, the print data generation unit 12 sets P to S. Thereafter, the process proceeds from step S60 in FIG. 3 to step S20. Since the Pth page in which S is set in step S190 is a color page, a proper N-up process is performed in step S40. Color pages within the range of N pages corresponding to the page are collected into one physical page.

  Through the series of processes in the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 described above, the print data generation unit 12 causes the attention logical page (P page) that is the logical page with the smallest page number among the logical pages before being collectively arranged on the physical page. Eye) is a black and white page (step S20: YES), and at least one color page is included in each of the first N pages and the second N pages in the range of 2N pages from the target logical page. If the page number difference A between the last color page and the first color page in the range is smaller than N (step S170: NO), the logical page immediately before the first color page from the logical page of interest (S-1 page) ) To form a physical page consisting only of black and white logical pages that are collectively arranged on one page (step S180).

  In other cases, the print data generation unit 12 divides a plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data into page order in every N pages, and each divided logical page for each N page is on one physical page. Appropriate N-up processing is performed for the centralized arrangement.

  In the printing apparatus 2, when print data from the print control apparatus 1 is received via the communication processing unit 27, the print control unit 23 causes the printing unit 25 to execute printing based on the received print data.

  Next, a case where N-up printing is performed by the copy function of the printing apparatus 2 will be described.

  On the printing condition setting screen (not shown) displayed on the touch panel of the operation input unit 26 by the control unit 20 in the printing apparatus 2, the user instructs N-up printing, the number of pages in N-up printing, and the arrangement of logical pages. Various setting items such as order can be set.

  When executing printing by the copy function, the printing condition setting unit 21 receives input of various setting items by the user's operation input unit 26, and when an instruction to perform N-up printing is given, various setting items in N-up printing are set. Set up.

  When an instruction signal for executing printing is input after setting N-up printing, the print data generation unit 22 causes the image reading unit 24 to read the document, and the obtained document image data is processed with respect to FIG. The print data is generated by performing the same processing as in the flowchart of FIG. Then, the print control unit 23 causes the printing unit 25 to execute printing based on the print data generated by the print data generation unit 22.

  FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a physical page when the processing of this embodiment is applied to the document image data shown in FIG. 7A with N = 4.

  Similarly to the conventional examples 1 to 3 shown in FIGS. 7B to 7D, if the printing cost per page is 10 yen for color printing and 2 yen for black and white printing, the total in the case of FIG. The printing cost is 14 yen, which is lower than the conventional examples 1 and 2.

  Compared to Conventional Example 3, the total printing cost in the present embodiment is the same as Conventional Example 3. However, as shown in FIG. 7D, the page order is broken in the conventional example 3, whereas in this embodiment, the page order in the document image data is maintained as shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the Pth page as the target logical page is a black and white page and does not satisfy the conditions C1 and C2, only the pages from the Pth page to the S-1 page are physically processed. In other cases, the N-up processing is performed in order to reduce the number of physical pages to be printed in color, thereby reducing the printing cost of N-up printing and reducing the page order of the document. It is possible to maintain the readability of the user.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print control apparatus 2 Printing apparatus 10 Printer driver part 11 Print condition setting part 12 Print data generation part 13 Display part 14 Operation input part 15 Communication processing part 20 Control part 21 Print condition setting part 22 Print data generation part 23 Print control part 24 Image reading unit 25 Printing unit 26 Operation input unit 27 Communication processing unit 30 Printing condition setting screen

Claims (3)

A print control device for outputting print data to a printing device to perform printing,
Printing condition setting means for performing N-up printing setting for printing N pages (N = 2, 3,...) Of document image data on one page in accordance with a user operation;
A plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data are divided into pages in order of N pages set by the printing condition setting means, and the logical pages for the divided N pages are each one physical page corresponding to the page of the print medium. Print data generation means for generating print data in a centralized arrangement;
Communication processing means for outputting the print data generated by the print data generation means to the printing apparatus,
The print data generation means is a range of 2N pages from the target logical page, and the target logical page having the smallest page number among the logical pages before being collectively arranged on the physical page is a monochrome page. At least one color page is included in each of the first half N page and the second half N page, and the difference between the page numbers of the last color page and the first color page in the range of the 2N pages is smaller than N. A printing control apparatus comprising a physical page in which only the logical page immediately before the first color page from the target logical page is arranged on one page. Printing condition setting means for performing N-up printing setting for printing N pages (N = 2, 3,...) Of document image data on one page in accordance with a user operation;
A plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data are divided into pages in order of N pages set by the printing condition setting means, and the logical pages for the divided N pages are each one physical page corresponding to the page of the print medium. Print data generation means for generating print data in a centralized arrangement;
Printing means for printing on a print medium based on the print data generated by the print data generation means,
The print data generation means is a range of 2N pages from the target logical page, and the target logical page having the smallest page number among the logical pages before being collectively arranged on the physical page is a monochrome page. At least one color page is included in each of the first half N page and the second half N page, and the difference between the page numbers of the last color page and the first color page in the range of the 2N pages is smaller than N. A printing apparatus comprising a physical page in which only the logical page immediately before the first color page from the target logical page is arranged on one page. A printer driver program that causes an information processing apparatus to function as a print control apparatus that outputs print data to a printing apparatus and performs printing.
Printing condition setting means for performing N-up printing setting for printing N pages (N = 2, 3,...) Of document image data on one page in accordance with a user operation;
A plurality of logical pages constituting the document image data are divided into pages in order of N pages set by the printing condition setting means, and the logical pages for the divided N pages are each one physical page corresponding to the page of the print medium. Causing the information processing apparatus to function as print data generation means for generating print data in a centralized arrangement;
The print data generation means is a range of 2N pages from the target logical page, and the target logical page having the smallest page number among the logical pages before being collectively arranged on the physical page is a monochrome page. At least one color page is included in each of the first half N page and the second half N page, and the difference between the page numbers of the last color page and the first color page in the range of the 2N pages is smaller than N. A printer driver program comprising a physical page in which only the logical page immediately before the first color page from the target logical page is arranged on one page.

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